Wedding Thursday: Flowers, Details + DIY Projects

Drats, late again this week!

You've heard the saying "It's all in the details"? I think that's very true when it comes to weddings. I believe the details really make the whole day personal to the couple. Although, looking back, I don't think J cared much about the details. As long as he didn't have to wear a purple tux, he was okay.

The Flowers + Decor

Ceremony:

I think flowers are gorgeous, but man, can they be expensive. I wanted pretty flowers for our ceremony and reception, but I also didn't want to spend thousands of dollars on flowers for one day! That's the part that got me the most, these flowers were only for one day!

I used a local florist that did the flowers for my friend's wedding. I gave her a budget( $2,000) and told her the general look I was going for. I wanted something light and springy, not too formal. I gave her swatches of my bridesmaids dress colors. I also tore out pictures from magazines of looks that I liked and mailed them to her. I told her to use whatever was in-season to keep costs down. I was so pleased with the result!

For the wedding party, I originally thought I wanted my bridesmaids to carry ivory/neutral bouquets and mine be the only colored one. In the end, I went with all color because we used the bouquets at the reception for decor. For the guys, the groomsmen wore ivory rose boutonnieres with purple accents while J's was a purple flower. Our mom's wore pin on corsages and our dad's matched the groomsmen. We also had small wrist corsages for our readers.




I wanted very little decor for the ceremony for 2 reasons: 1) my church is beautiful, so it didn't really need to me fixed up, and 2) The ceremony was less than 30 minutes long. Why spend a big chunk of my budget to fix up the church when we spent more time at the reception? Our florist marked the pews for our families with a simple baby's breath arrangement. We had an ivory arrangement at the altar; we donated it to the church to use the next morning in memory of our grandparents. There were a couple of candelabras in the choir loft and a memorial candle in the foyer. That's it!




The Reception:

This is where she blew me away. As I said earlier, I really didn't specify what I wanted. I didn't demand certain flowers or anything like that. I told her some things I liked, but what was important was staying in budget and following the color scheme.

I knew one way to save money was with the centerpieces. We had 23 tables in our reception room! This included 15 tables in the main room and 8 in the "covered patio". To cut costs, only 8 of the main room tables had floral centerpieces. The other 7 + the covered patio tables were candle arrangements. We did not decorate the buffet tables or the cake tables. The guestbook/gift table was one of my DIY projects (more in a minute). She also made a small toss bouquet for me. I don't have very many straight-on shots of the arrangements, but I loved all of them.


Isn't it all pretty? And she provided all supplies + labor for....$2,095. That's a damn good deal if you ask me!

Details + DIY

I followed the old tradition of "Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue". My something old was my Mawmaw(paternal grandmother)'s engagement + wedding band and my Nanny's (maternal grandmother) necklace that I attached to my bouquet. Something new was (clearly) my dress + accessories. For something borrowed, I put my DG Big Sister(and Matron of Honor)'s Delta Gamma pin on my bouquet; she wore mine in her wedding. Something blue? Blue Hanky Panky underwear :) I also had a UGA garter, but didn't actually wear it the whole time. I put it on before the garter toss.


I made our programs using Microsoft publisher. I just designed them as a brochure and printed them out. I tried to match our invitations, using a mix of script and roman font. The cover was just a slightly heavier stock, metallic silver paper. I punched holes in the sides and tied them with a ribbon. The outside cover was stamped with a pretty flourish rubber stamp I found at Hobby Lobby in purple ink. My maids of honor and I worked on these for the two days leading up to the wedding(unfortunately, they didn't photograph well!). I think I spent a total of $60; purchasing programs to match my invites would have cost $250!



I also made the tissue paper pomanders for my flower girls. All I needed was a 5" Styrofoam ball, purple tissue paper, florist's wire and silver ribbon...and a lot of time! They took forever, but I loved how they looked.

I knew from day 1 I would make moss covered letters to hang on the church doors. Our initials (L & J) ended up being the "theme" of our wedding. These were super easy to make with cardboard letters, moss sheets and spray glue.


Our wonderful photographer (who's pictures I've used in all my recaps) put together our guestbook using our engagement photos. He posted a fun animation of it on his blog.

We placed the guestbook on a table that I decorated (well, collected items for and left instructions with my reception coordinator to decorate). I bough zinc letters from anthropologie ( L & J) that were placed on the table along with all the bouquets, the guestbook, buckets of bubbles and my bridal portrait.



I had a great time adding personal touches to our wedding. I really admire all the 100% DIY brides out there...my few projects took it all out of me!

A few more posts in the series...our pre-wedding parties & the Honeymoon, plus some of my favorite pictures!

All photos in this post were done by William Massey Photography.

Wedding Thursday: The Reception

A little late on this series this week!

Even before I was engaged, I knew that one thing I wanted most when I got married was to have a great big party will all my loved ones...and that's exactly what we did!

One of the perks(?) of planning a wedding in a smallish town is that we had limited reception venues to choose from, so there wasn't a lot of time spent trying to make a decision! We looked at a gorgeous renovated barn that overlooked the mountains...I loved every bit about it, aside from the price tag that was 1/3 of our budget just to rent the venue!

We settled on the local country club, where many of my friends had their receptions and my family had been members for year. It was just $500 to reserve the large ballroom/banquet room and that $500 went towards our final bill! They provided tables, chairs, basic white linens, and service along with food + drink. Talk about a good deal!

After a few formal post-ceremony shots, we headed over to the Country Club. My Great Uncle (My Uncle "B" as I've always called him) helped make one of my wishes come true for the wedding. Our car was a 1949 Pontiac and he was our driver! I think he got a kick out of driving us too :)



We did the bridal party presentation to Led Zepplin's "Kashmir"...J is a big LZ fan and I really like the beat of this song. Honestly, I would have liked to have used the Vitamin String Quartet version, but I don't think he would have approved :)

After the entrance came the dances! Jordan and I didn't pick out the song for our first dance until about a week before the wedding. We wanted a song special to us, but not too long...no one ever tells you how awkward it is to be dancing while everyone stares at you! It came down to Jack Johnson's "Better Together" or Jason Mraz & Colbie Calliat's "Lucky". We went with Jack Johnson because "Better Together" has been our song since we started dating :)

I think choosing a song to dance with my Dad to was harder than choosing our first dance! I wanted to steer away from the typical songs you hear--"Butterfly Kisses," "I loved her first" "Stealing Cinderella"--but still do something sentimental. I toyed with the idea of "The House at Pooh Corner" because I love Winnie the Pooh, or even "Georgia on My Mind". In the end, my dad is actually who found the song. He LOVES looking up random videos on YouTube. He found a cover of "Forever Young" done by Johnny Cash. I always loved that song, but felt the Dylan version was too slow and long for a wedding dance. This version was perfect--and we both love Johnny Cash!

Jordan danced with his mom to The Beatles' "In My Life". He gave her a few options and that's the one she picked. It was fitting, as his dad(and both of us) love The Beatles. She also wanted to avoid a song that would make her cry :)


After dancing came food! We did a heavy finger foods buffet with hot and cold options along with a beer and wine bar. A seated dinner just didn't give in to the party feeling I was going for :)



Our cakes actually came from Publix! A DG sister of mine told me that every venue in Atlanta she spoke to about her reception suggested Publix. I got so frustrated trying to schedule meetings with little local bakers back in Georgia that I just decided to use Publix as well. .I found a picture of a cake on TheKnot that I liked and purple ribbon that matched my bridesmaids' dresses. I bought the mirrored monogrammed cake topper off of etsy. The cake was delicious! It was layered vanilla and chocolate cake inside with fresh strawberry filling and buttercream icing. So. freaking. good. Jordan actually designed his groom's cake to look like the front of his Jeep. We were expecting a white sheet cake with the design on it in icing...nope, they went all out! His was a plain vanilla cake.


After cakes, came dancing, garter/bouquet tossing, and toasts. It all went by in a blur, which is the one sentence that I think sums up the entire day. I'm so glad we hired a videographer! We used a DJ instead of a band, which I liked for two reasons--cost & the ability to request songs. We did, however, download a Pitbull song to someone's iPhone because he didn't have it in his library :)


We exited around 9 PM to our guests blowing bubbles. My Great Uncle drove us to the hotel where we(and most of our guests) were staying the night. The hotel bar stayed open for us and we celebrated with our friends until 1 or 2 AM. It was, truly, the best night ever. It all went by so fast...I just love looking at all the pictures!

All photos in the post were done by William Massey Photography.

Next week: The Details + DIY Projects!

PS--Thanks to Ally for cluing me in on making a photo collage!

Wedding Wednesday: The Ceremony

Photo by William Massey Photography

Our ceremony was short and traditional. While I acknowledge the fact that the ceremony is the most important part of the wedding day, I have to admit I don't really love standing up in front of a bunch people and being the center of attention!

Our ceremony was officiated by an associate pastor who has been at the church my entire life.
Looking back, I'm a little surprised at how traditional my ceremony was. I don't consider myself a very traditional person! A few prayers, a small sermon, the vows, the rings, the blessing and the announcement. We had two readings. J's best friend from undergrad (who flew all the way from Alaska to be there) read Colossians 3:12-17 and one of my best friends from college read "The Blessing of the Hands" right before we exchanged rings.

We had no singing solos. My dad pointed out early on in planning "That song may be pretty, but you need to think...that's 3 minutes we all have to sit there looking at you while you look at each other." Good point. We also skipped the unity candle.

Our officiant's wife played the piano and another church member played the organ. I started taking formal piano lessons when I was nine, but my Mawmaw began teaching me to play long before that, so it was important for me to have piano music. I had a lot of fun picking out the music for our ceremony. Again, it was all very traditional:

• Pre-wedding prelude--variety of hymns & classical music
• Seating of the Mothers- Come, Thou Fount Of Every Blessing
• Bridal Party- Pachabel's Canon in D
• Bride's Procession- The Trumpet Voluntary
• Recessional- Hymn to Joy/Ode to Joy

Our ceremony FLEW by! I can't remember most of it. Sitting in the small holding room off the side of the church foyer with my dad and bridesmaids was the only time I felt nervous the entire day. I vaguely remember seeing faces in the crowd. I handed my bouquet off to my Matron of Honor too early. We kissed 3 times at the end. My ring bearer stood with his hands in his pocket the whole time; one flower girl had her finger up her nose half the time. All in all, I think it was perfect!

Wedding Wednesday: What Everyone Else Wore

I apologize, again, for the lack of posting! I've missed Wedding Wednesday for two weeks in a row! Last time I talked about finding The Dress. This week I'll talk about what everyone else wore!

The Bridesmaids + Flower Girls

Purple has been my favorite color for as long as I remember. In fact, my room at my parents' house is still painted purple! So it was clear what color my wedding party would be wearing!

I wanted to steer clear of any super-pale lilac or pansy color. I found European Lilac from Bill Levkoff to be the perfect shade. It was dark enough to not be pastel, but still light enough for an afternoon spring wedding.

I picked out the color, fabric (Euro Satin) and length(cocktail) and then my bridesmaids were free to choose any style dress that met that criteria. They had about a dozen to choose from and could pick whatever dress they liked. Out of six women, three chose the same dress and 3 chose different ones!
I asked that they just wear silver shoes, flats or heels--I didn't care. My matron of honor is more comfortable in flats, while my sister chose what can only be explained as "hooker heels"(she's the super tan one on the end)!

I originally picked out silver/gray chiffon dresses with satin lilac rosettes on the neckline and waist for my two flower girls(no picture available). We ordered them in February....they did not arrive at the store until the Tuesday before the wedding. When they did? They were both size 2. That size fit the three year-old, but the six year-old? no dice. Their cousin ended up going out to Belk's to buy ivory Easter dresses. I ended up loving them more than the originals.




The Guys

I originally wanted the guys to wear light gray suits. I love that look and something about a light gray suit screams Spring to me. However, due to logistics, we used Men's Wearhouse for the tuxes and I did not like their gray suits. We went with a classic black tux with ivory shirts--we avoided white since my dress was ivory. J wore an ivory vest + tie and the other guys wore a purple printed one. The ring bearer wore a mini version of J's tux. Our dad's wore black tuxes with black vests and ties.

His mom wore a lovely taupe skirt + jacket, while my mom wore an eggplant halter dress. Here's our whole family!



And here's the whole wedding party! The two girls in the teal and coral are my cousins who were program attendants.

All pictures done by William Massey Photography.

Next week: The Ceremony

Wedding Thursday: The Dress + The Look

Sorry for the lack of posting this week! No worries, I'll have a full recap of NKOTBSB soon :)


Immediately after J proposed, we went out to Bonefish to celebrate. We killed time at Barnes & Noble where I bought my first wedding magazine!

I didn't shop for a dress until July, but I had a general idea of what I wanted...lace, antique-looking, not poofy. I did not want to go to David's Bridal because of some bad experience there, but I also set a budget for myself(that included alterations). I researched brands that fell within my budget and found a local store that carried these brands.

My sister came to visit Memphis in late July and went with me on my first shopping trip. I went to the store that I ended up ordering bridesmaids dresses from(and had the most horrible customer service experience ever) and told them it was my first time shopping. They let me pull as many as I wanted. One thing I loved is that the price was right on the front of the bag, so I could automatically skip any that were over my budget, thus preventing me from falling in love with one I couldn't afford. I didn't find THE ONE that day, but I tried on quite a few.

After that trip, I could tell I had a favorite--strapless, sweetheart neckline with lace and just slightly full. I found a small shop in Nashville, TN who's entire inventory was within my budget and made an appointment there. My mom and maid of honor met me in Nashville for a weekend of shopping.

I found the dress there. I knew it was the one, because the longer I kept it on, the more I loved it. It was comfortable but pretty. I felt I could move in it.

I didn't have an overly dramatic "Say Yes to The Dress" moment. In fact, I could have kept shopping for dresses because I loved trying them on. But I made up my mind that I wanted to buy a dress that weekend. I knew that if I kept shopping, I'd probably find one that looked similar to what I chose, because that is what I liked. It is important to keep in mind what you want and how you want to feel on your wedding day.



I found my veil only a few months before the wedding. I knew I didn't want a blusher and I didn't want anything extremely ornate or long. My friend Ashley helped me pick my veil out at the shop where I had my alterations done.

I knew I wanted purple shoes. I found some simple, comfortable dye able shoes on ShoeBuy.com and had them dyed to match the bridesmaids dresses. They came pretty close!


I kept the accessories simple. Because I wore my half-up and half-down, I skipped the necklace. I purchased my earrings and bracelet from this etsy seller and I love them.


I felt beautiful on my wedding day, but still like myself which I think is the most important thing!

Next week: What everyone else wore!

All photos in this post were taken by William Massey Photography

Wedding Wednesday: The Bridal Party + Other Roles

So after laying the foundation for our April 2011 wedding, we began discussing who all would be involved with our wedding(aside from the obvious!)


Bridesmaids: 6

My matron of honor was my Delta Gamma Big Sister. This was a no brainer. She is one of my best friends. Although she lives in Wichita and couldn't be around for any of the planning, she helped as much as she could over the phone. On the day of the wedding, she was constantly by my side and helping me. She saved the day by finding my grandmother's engagement ring when it fell off my bouquet! If I'd lost that ring, the entire day would have been ruined for me.

I "broke tradition" by having two maids of honor. My best friend from high school is practically a sister to me and her family is an extension of my own. The other is another DG sister, former roommate and best friend from college.

My sister, cousin and childhood friend(and DG sister) were the remaining three bridesmaids. Some people thought it was odd I didn't pick my sister as MOH, but I asked if she'd be bothered by that and she said no, so that's all that matters.


Groomsmen: 5



J's best friend from college was his best man. He's a great guy and I really like him and love that he is such a good friend to J.

His brother, college roommate and two high school friends were the other groomsmen. The roommate flew all the way from California to be in our wedding! We really appreciated it.

We had uneven numbers and that was fine by us. He has two other friends we would have liked to have included, but they are both in the military. One is in the Air Force and was anticipating a deployment and his younger brother is currently completing OCS for the Army down at Ft.Benning. I know people stress over "even sides"--trust me, it is not a big deal.

Kids: 4

Yes, we had kids in our wedding. I have a few younger cousins I adore and I wanted them involved. The two oldest(12 and...9?) handed out programs. The only boy was our ring bearer and the two youngest girls were our flower girls. They were adorable.

Readers: 2

We had two readers. One was J's best girl friend from college and the other was one of my best friends from college. I'll post the readings in my ceremony post.

I also had a childhood friend as our guestbook attendant. We did not do reception hosts/hostesses or cake cutters.

I read a lot of horror stories about bridesmaids dropping out, groomsmen not showing up, etc. and I was shocked that this happened. We knew we could count on these people. The important thing is to choose those who are closest to you to stand up there with you or be involved in your ceremony. No need to ask your BFF from middle school who you actually haven't seen in years but still stalk on Facebook. Or your college roommate you no longer see just because you were in hers. The people we had in our wedding have been in our lives for years and we expect them to always be there.

And I have to say, we made a pretty good looking group!

All pictures in the post were done by William Massey Photography

Next Week: Attire (DRESS SHOPPING!)